G'Day, mates!

A trip to Australia has been in my sights since we moved to Hawaii, so I was thrilled when Blaine agreed to take some time off to make this vacation happen. After much thought about where to go and what to see, we decided to stay in Sydney and tour the surrounding area. There are so many other places to see, such as Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef, Brisbane, Melbourne, the outback...you name it! But seeing all of these places in eight days is like touring the United States in eight days...that seemed overwhelming to me. We decided to pace ourselves, stay in one city, and we will go back to see the others in separate visits. Here's a recap of our trip!

Day 1: After missing the Space A flight over (no seats due to cargo), we booked our tickets for the next morning and were off on our 11 hour flight. We stepped out of the train station in Circular Quay to see all kinds of lights and street artists...much to our delight, we just happened to choose to visit the week of "Vivid Sydney", where artists put on amazing light shows all over the city! It was beautiful! Our first full day in Sydney, we headed straight over to the famous Opera House for a tour. We saw a rehearsal for a show the following night, which piqued our curiosity...more on that later. We also walked around The Rocks area and made our way to the Sydney Observatory, where we learned about the "Transit of Venus"...more on this later, too.   I fell in love with Sydney the first day...what a beautiful city!

Sydney Opera House

Sydney Observatory

 Day 2: We visited the Taronga Zoo to get a glimpse of some of the wildlife since I was sure we wouldn't be spotting any kangaroos in downtown Sydney. It was a nice zoo, and we really liked being able to walk amongst the kangaroos and wallabies in their enclosure. After our zoo visit, we went back to the Opera House for the show that we had seen in rehearsals the day before. "Stop the Virgens" was touted as a "psycho rock opera"...I can't believe I just wrote that. I'm still not sure what it was about and found myself scanning the audience to try to figure out what I was missing. It was an excellent people-watching venue, however! And quite an interesting experience. ;)  The main attraction was Karen O. of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs...yeah, I don't know who that is either.

Koala!

Lazy kangaroo

 Day 3: We spent our third day walking around the city, taking in the sights and sounds. If I had to describe Sydney, I would say it's a mix between New York City and Charleston, with a little bit of Europe thrown in...perfect for me! Have I mentioned how much I LOVED all of the outdoor cafes lining the streets...and my daily (sometimes multiple) cappuccinos? :) We visited the National Maritime Museum and then cozied up to a blackjack table in the neighboring casino afterwards.  ;)

Adorable market right around the corner from our hotel...and an outdoor cafe!

Same market at night...not so adorable.  ;)

City Centre

National Maritime Museum

 Day 4: We took the train to the Blue Mountains, but didn't get to see much of anything due to the rain and fog. The little town, Katoomba, that the train stopped in was super cute and was the perfect place for a yummy breakfast, though...and yet another pub visit!

Cute town of Katoomba!

The yucky weather...and why we didn't get a glimpse of the mountains.  :(

 Day 5: The rain continued so we decided on a veg out day, checking email and surfing the Internet while sipping on cappuccinos at our hotel. Sometimes you need veg out days on vacation.  No pictures of this day, obviously.

Day 6: Perhaps my favorite day!  We decided on a "Boutique Wine Tour", which sounded nice but I was completely prepared for a "touristy" and cheesy tour.  NOT AT ALL!  Our driver picked us up that morning in a little Mercedes van with only three other people!  He was funny and knowledgeable and even asked if there were any specific wineries we wanted to visit.  The Hunter Valley wine region is about two hours north of Sydney and looks just like the Sonoma Vally in California.  We tasted wines (MANY) at four different wineries: Savannah Estate, Iron Gate, Constable Estate, and Ernest Hill...you may have not heard of any of these because they are boutique wineries.  They typically sell out of their wineries and really don't ship anywhere.  Of course, we brought six bottles home with us.  :)  AND we even pulled over to see a big mob of wild kangaroos!!  We thought it was SO cool, even though they view kangaroos like we view whitetail deer in Texas.  ;)

Savannah Estate

Iron Gate

One of the vineyards...one of my MOST FAVORITE sights in all the world.  

Constable Estate

Ernest Hill

I light up any time I see vineyards...I just love the way they (and their wines) make me feel!  ;)

Blaine's tasting notes...did I mention they gave us A LOT of tastings?  Sweet Awesomeness?!  HA!

KANGAROOS!  In the wild!  Awesome!!

Day7: I'm glad we saw just about everything we wanted to see at the beginning of our trip because the weather did not cooperate this day.  We caught the ferry over to Manly Beach, such great views and a beautiful area!  Of course, it began to rain as soon as we got there, so we found a couple of breweries to spend some time in.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Manly Beach...and storm clouds rolling in.

Day 8: Remember our visit to the observatory on day one?  Well, while there, we read about the Transit of Venus, when the sun, Venus, and Earth align just right so that you can see a tiny, black dot (Venus) traveling across the sun.  It only happens twice in a lifetime...eight years apart (2004 and 2012), but won't take place again until 2117.  If you are super bummed you missed it ;), you can check out the Transit of Mercury in 2016.  Blaine HAD to see this, as this is what drew Captain Cook and his crew to Australia in the first place.  And it was quite popular in Sydney...they sold out of the viewing glasses all over the city!  We were bummed about that, until we had the idea to walk up to the observatory that day where I just asked some guy who had already seen it if we could have his glasses!  We paid the good deed forward and gave the glasses to a guy we met later that day.  :)  After the transit, we strolled over to the Sydney Harbour Bridge and climbed up one of the pylons to take in the views of the city and harbour...gorgeous!

Viewing the Transit of Venus!  (We are SUCH nerds.)

View from the bridge pylon

Blaine taking in the transit one more time before giving away our glasses to another guy on the pylon.  I love this picture.  :)

Another shot of the bridge

Sydney...notice the historic buildings in The Rocks area nestled in front of the big City Centre!  Too cool!

We had a great trip and I'm so glad we made it to Australia!  Our next trip will definitely be a diving excursion, though.  :)

Two days after we returned, we island-hopped over to the Big Island with our dear friends, the Amidons!  Since Blaine won't have many spear-fishing opportunities in Alabama, he and Nate chartered a "deep blue" fishing trip, where they went out into the open ocean for some spear-fishing.  They saw a lot of fish and some whales, but even more sharks.  : /  While they fished, Elizabeth and I enjoyed relaxing by the lagoon in our cabana, sipping our new favorite drink (see recipe below!), reading books...everything a beach vacation should be before I get my hands on it and make one of my infamous itineraries.  ;)  It was AWESOME to spend four days in Kona with the Amidons...with NO itinerary...just relaxation in the sun.  Thanks, Nate and Elizabeth, for a very memorable vacation!

And if you've made it this far in your reading (sorry for the lengthy post), you will now be rewarded with one of the BEST recipes I have stumbled upon!  

SKINNY PINA COLADA

2 oz. coconut rum

2 oz. pineapple juice

5 oz. coconut water

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice.  Shake and strain into a glass filled with ice.  Garnish with a pineapple slice and/or a maraschino cherry (optional).  ENJOY!  This makes two drinks at under 100 calories each!!  So yummy!  :)